- Education and Public Outreach Interests
- Undergraduate Education
- My favorite classes to teach are ASTR
121 and ASTR
124, the introductory
astronomy classes for non-science majors. My primary goal in teaching
these classes
is to help students develop their problem solving skills using astronomy
as the subject of study.
- Public Outreach
- Public Night Program: As part of my education and
outeach duties, I manage the public night programs at the Leander
McCormick Observatory and the Fan Mountain Observatory.
- The Leander
McCormick Observatory is open to the general public
on the first and third Fridays of every month from 7-9 p.m. (November
to March when we are on Standard Time) or from 9-11 p.m. (April
to October when we are on Daylight Saving Time). Weather permitting,
visitors can view the moon, planets, or other celesital objects throught
the historic 26-inch refractor and two smaller telescopes. Faculty
members, young scientists, and graduate students give presentations
and answer questions. The Observatory is also open to educational
groups that make advance reservations on the second and fourth Friday
evenings of each month. I believe that the McCormick Public Night
program, which has been continuously offered since 1885, is the oldest
in the country. About 4000 people visit McCormick Observatory each
year.
- Fan
Mountain Observatory,
which is about 13 miles south of Charlottesville, is open to the
public twice a year (once in October and once in April).
Weather permitting, visitors can view the planets and other celestial
objects though the 31-inch and 40-inch reflecting telescopes. In
addition, there are tours of the Observatory, viewing through amateur
telescopes, a tour of constellations, a slide show, and other activities.
Visitors must request tickets, which are free, in advance. See the
Public
Night Page for details.
- Astronomy Class for the General Public: During the fall and spring
semesters, I teach an evening introductory astronomy class for the general
public
at the
Leander
McCormick
Observatory.
The class runs from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. every Tuesday for eight weeks.
In the fall semester, we discuss the daily and annual motions of the
night
sky,
the
seasons,
phases
of
the
moon,
tides,
eclipses,
and
tour
all the bodies in our solar system. In the spring class, we discuss the
Sun and other stars,
the
births,
lives,
and deaths of stars, our Milky Way galaxy, the expanding universe, and
the Big Bang. No math or science background is required, there are no
assigned readings or homework problems. You can register for the class
at the University
of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional Studies Personal Enrichment website.
- Other outreach programs: In the past few years, I have helped other
faculty in the Astronomy Department to raise funding through NASA Education
and
Public
Outreach
supplemental
grants
to fund
four planetarium shows and an exhibit at the Science
Musuem of Virginia.
In addition, we sponsored an exhibit on Patterns, Cycles, and Change
at the local Virginia Discovery Museum for
children ages 5-8, and have developed exhibits for the Public Night Program
at McCormick Observatory.
- Outreach to Teachers
- I strongly believe that the best way to improve science education in
the United States is by improving the science content knowledge, and
the pedagogical skills, of pre-service and in-service teachers. A typical
science teacher will impact about 60-100 students per year. Over the
course of a 30 year career, the teacher will have a direct influence
on 1800-3000 students! In an effort to help teachers learn and teach
astronomy, Randy Bell (Curry School of Education) and I have developed
a two-week long, summer, Space
Science for Teachers workshop. During the workshop, teachers learn
astronomy using hands-on, and/or inquiry based lessons that they can
use in their classrooms. Pending funding, we buy hundreds
of dollars worth of materials for the teachers, demonstrate how to use
them, and then have the teachers use the materials to learn the astronomical
concepts. The workshop covers all the astronomy, space science, and nature
of science
Virginia Standards of Learning for grades 4-9. We also teach the teachers
how to navigate the night sky and how to operate a small telescope.
-
- Research Interests
Published Papers and Abstracts (Astrophysics Data System)
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